The right side of the pond: That anonymous Trump op-ed shows the government's disdain for voters

In his column, talkRADIO presenter Michael Graham gives a conservative view on current issues.

So the New York Times published an op-ed by an anonymous official inside the Trump administration trashing the president and, on your side of the pond, you may be surprised to learn that one of the people on the list of likely authors is….

Donald Trump.

OK, not Trump himself. He struggles to stay on point through a 10-sentence twitter rant. But someone acting in his name or on his behalf. Sound crazy? Not if you think about how America got Trump in the first place.

Trump described as 'petty and ineffective'

Here’s what we know. For the first time in modern politics, the New York Times published a guest editorial and kept the author’s identity hidden for reasons other than personal safety.

In it, an (alleged) “senior official in the Trump administration” announces that he is “part of the resistance inside the Trump Administration,” working to stop the President from doing things that the author and others believe are Trump’s “more misguided impulses.” In the anonymous author’s opinion, Trump is “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective,” and “amoral.” And, therefore, he and his fellow “unsung heroes in and around the White House,” are countering Trump’s erratic behavior.

'A gutless editorial'

Not surprisingly, President Trump reacted publicly in his usual manner:

Name-calling: The author is “gutless. A gutless editorial,” Trump said.

Denouncing the media: “The failing New York Times! When I'm not President…all of these phony media outlets, will be out of business, folks.”

Demanding action: "Isn’t it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost. Don’t know why Washington politicians don’t change libel laws?"

Isn’t it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost. Don’t know why Washington politicians don’t change libel laws?

Yelling at Attorney General Jeff Sessions (This is Trump’s go-to move): Asked by a journalist whether Sessions should investigate the source of the critical column, Trump said, "I think so. Because I think it's national security - I would say Jeff should be investigating who the author of that piece was because I really believe it's national security."

'Nobody voted for the people working against the president'

And now Washington DC is obsessed with uncovering the identity of the author, including reporters at the New York Times who theoretically are investigating their own co-workers in the editorial department. But I say: Isn’t it obvious? It’s Trump!

Why would Trump want an article published that calls him “erratic” and “immoral?” One that feeds the ongoing narrative of chaos inside the White House? Because it’s telling another story, one that’s far more powerful for the president.

The anonymous author has announced that there is a political coup underway inside the executive branch. 'Nobody Papers are being hidden from the president, his proposals are being thwarted behind his back and, according to the writer, it’s all being done secretly by what Trump supporters call the “deep state” but the author calls the “steady state.”

Whatever you call them, these permanent fixtures of the governing class currently working against the president all have something in common: Nobody voted for them.

Nearly 63 million Americans cast their ballots to makeTrump president. That’s where his legitimacy comes from.

What this op-ed claims is what many Trump supporters have long believed - that their votes just don’t matter that much to the people who really run the government. The great unwashed can vote for whatever they want, but the bureaucrats and lobbyists and hangers-on in our government class are going to run things the way they want.

For years these Americans have tried to get Washington’s attention. They gave their votes to W. Bush, then Obama and now Trump. They flipped control of the House of Representatives twice in two election cycles (2006, 2010) and appear on the verge of doing it again.

This anonymous editorial, with its dismissive attitude toward the voters and its embrace of elitist governance, essentially confirms the entire premise of the Trump presidency: Washington will never listen until you send in a crazy man who starts setting things on fire.

OK, I don’t believe Trump actually did send in this op-ed. But he might as well have.